The County Council is the legal body of the GPCA on the county level and is generally responsible for organizing and coordinating Green Party activity within the county, including party building, internal and external communications, supporting local Green candidates and representing county Greens to the state Green Party. Green Party County Councils are elected in the presidential primary election every four years by registered Greens. County Councils hold public meetings and are governed by their own county bylaws.

All political parties in California are governed by the California Elections Code. The Code specifies the duties and qualifications of all political parties, including their state and county organs. The Green Party calls its elected County organizations ‘County Councils’. Other parties call theirs ‘Central Committees’ or ‘County Central Committees’.

How does one qualify for the ballot? Who is eligible to run?

To run for County Council, one must be a registered Green in the district in which one seeks election. (E.C. § 201) and have been registered Green at least three months prior to the opening of the nomination filing period, which begins in 2016 on January 4th. (E.C. § 8001(a)).

To qualify for the ballot, a potential County Council candidate must gather twenty nomination signatures from registered Greens in the district (fewer in counties with less than 1,000 registered Greens). These signatures are then checked for validity by the County Registrar. If enough are valid, one's name is placed on the ballot for a public vote of registered Greens. (If the number of candidates is less than the number of positions available, all of the candidates will be declared winners, and you will not see the position on your ballot.)

The signature gathering period in 2016 is between January 4 and March 11, dates that correspond to E-158 and E-88, indicating the number of days before the County Council election. (E.C. €€ 8020 & 10407). To initiate this process, one must go to the County Registrar's office to fill out the declaration of candidacy, obtain the official signature gathering forms and to hand them in upon completion.

What is the official size of your County Council

The California state elections code states: 7903. The number of members of the county council to be elected in a county shall be a minimum of three and a maximum of 50, and the process in which each county’s number shall be calculated shall be defined in the Green Party’s bylaws

6-1.2 A County Organization's bylaws must specify the number of members to be elected in the county.6-1.3 If a county has less than 150 registered Green Party voters, the number of members to be elected shall be three;6-1.4 If a county has between 150 and 500 registered Green Party voters, the number of members to be elected shall be five;6-1.5 If a county has more than 500 registered Green Party voters, the number shall be either:6-1.5(a) The greater of the number seven or the integer nearest the resulting quotient obtained by dividing 100 times the number of Green Party registered voters in the county by the number of Green Party registered voters in the state; or6-1.5(b) Recognized County Organizations may choose to modify the number of members to be elected by notifying the Coordinating Committee at least 165 days prior to the direct primary election, notification of which must include minutes of the decision that took place. In such cases the number of members to be elected may be no fewer than five. It shall be the responsibility of the Coordinating Committee to notify the Secretary of State of the modification no later than 135 days prior to the direct primary election.

CHAPTER 2. Members of County Councils7901. At each presidential primary election, members of central committees, which shall be termed “county councils,” shall be elected in each county.

7902. For purposes of this chapter, the registration figures used shall be those taken from the statement of voters and their political preferences transmitted by the elections officials to the Secretary of State on or before March 1 of the odd-numbered year preceding the next presidential primary election.

7903. The number of members of the county council to be elected in a county shall be a minimum of three and a maximum of 50, and the process in which each county’s number shall be calculated shall be defined in the Green Party’s bylaws and, to be effective, shall be communicated to the Secretary of State by the Green Party Liaison to the Secretary of State no later than 175 days before the next presidential primary election.

7904. At its first meeting following the presidential primary election and at subsequent meetings, a county council may appoint additional members to the county council to fill any vacancy.

7905. A person shall not be appointed to membership on a county council who is registered as preferring another party or registered as “No Party Preference.” Appointment of other persons who cannot register to vote shall be allowed under certain circumstances as described in state Green Party bylaws and any applicable county Green Party bylaws.

7906. The removal of residence by an elected or appointed member of a county council from the applicable county shall constitute automatic resignation from the county council.

7907. A member of a county council who changes her or his voter registration to no longer prefer the Green Party shall automatically be removed from office upon such registration.

7908. County council members additionally may be removed for cause by procedures established in the Green Party’s bylaws.

7909. When a person is appointed to a county council, the county council shall file notices of the appointment with the county elections official and the coordinating committee of the Green Party within 30 days after the appointment is made. The notices shall contain the name and address of the person appointed and shall indicate the date of the appointment.

7910. The Department of General Services shall permit any county council that desires to do so to hold meetings in a state building within the county, and a minimum of one meeting each month shall be without charge.

CHAPTER 3. Election of County Councils7911. Members of county councils shall be elected from one or more multi-member districts. Multimember districts shall conform to the county boundaries or recognized jurisdictional boundaries of Congressional, State Assembly, State Senate, or Supervisorial districts within that county, in accordance with state Green Party bylaws and county Green Party bylaws.

7912. The Secretary of State, no later than the 175th day before the presidential primary election, shall compute the number of members of a county council to be elected in each county and shall mail a certificate to that effect to the elections official of each county and to the Green Party Liaison to the Secretary of State.

7913. The elections official, no later than the 172nd day before the presidential primary election, shall compute the number of members of a county council to be elected in each district if the election of the members is to be by district pursuant to this chapter.

7914. In each county, the name of each candidate for member of a county council shall appear on the ballot only if she or he is registered as preferring the Green Party and has filed a nomination paper pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6850) of Part 1 of Division 6, signed on the candidate’s behalf by Green Party voters of the county council election district in which she or he is a candidate.

7915. In counties where members of county councils are to be elected by district, a person seeking election as a member of a county council may seek election only in the district in which she or he resides.

7916. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, a person may obtain and circulate nomination papers for both nomination to a public office and for election as a member of a county council.

7917. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the number of sponsors that shall be required of a person to be a candidate for member of a county council shall be either not less than 20 sponsors, or not less than 2 percent of the number of voters registered as preferring the Green Party in the county council election district, whichever is less.

7918. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, each sponsor is entitled to sponsor as many candidates as there are seats in the district. Candidate names listed on a single sponsor’s certificate, and the signatures on the certificate shall count toward the sponsor requirement of each and every candidate whose name is listed on the certificate. The number of candidates having their names on a sponsor’s certificate shall not exceed the number of members of a county council to be elected in the district.

7919. The elections official of each county shall include the office of member of county council and the candidates for the office in a place and manner similar to that for the office of county central committee of other political parties and the candidates for that office on the applicable official lists.

7920. The order of appearance of the names of the candidates for member of county council on the ballot shall be determined by a public drawing held at the time, place, and manner prescribed for determining the order of names of county central committee members pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 13100) of Division 13.

7921. The office of member of county council shall be placed on the presidential primary ballot under the heading “Party County Council” in the place and manner designated for the office of county central committee pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 13100) of Division 13. The subheading printed under party central committees on the presidential primary ballot shall be in substantially the following form: Member of Green Party County Council, ___the __________ District or Member of the Green Party County Council, _______ County.

7922. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the votes cast for each candidate for member of county council shall be included in the canvass and statement of results in a manner similar to the vote for each candidate for county central committees pursuant to Division 15 (commencing with Section 15000), and specifically:(a) The final total of votes cast for each candidate for member of county council, including the name, address, and ballot designation of each such candidate, and a specification as to which candidates were declared elected shall be certified to the Secretary of State without delay upon completion of the official canvass. The county clerk shall simultaneously send one copy of this final certification to the Green Party Liaison to the Secretary of State.(b) As soon as practicable after the presidential primary election, the Secretary of State shall prepare a certified list, by county, of all elected Green Party members of county councils, including their addresses and primary election ballot designations. The Secretary of State shall send copies of the list to the registrar of voters in each county no later than 45 days following the presidential primary election. This list shall be maintained for public inspection by the registrars of voters in each county until a subsequent list is received.(c) The Secretary of State, no later than 45 days following the presidential primary election, shall send a notice by mail to each of the elected members of county councils that informs the person that she or he has been elected as a member of the county council. The Secretary of State shall send a copy of the certified list of all elected members of all county councils to the Green Party Liaison to the Secretary of State.

7923. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, a write-in candidate for member of county council shall not be declared elected unless the write-in candidate has received a number of votes equal to or greater than 2 percent of the number of party members voting in the county council election district at the presidential primary or 20 votes, whichever is less.

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